Most vehicles run on fuels derived from oil, such as gasoline. Oil is a non-renewable resource and is therefore in limited supply. Moreover, the use of oil in automobile engines is harmful to the environment.
Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is released from the exhaust of a gasoline combustion engine. In addition to causing air pollution, greenhouse gases build up in the Earth's atmosphere and trap heat. Some scientific research predicts that increases in concentrations of greenhouse gases will, over time, increase the average global temperature and thereby change the world's climate and weather patterns.
Carbon dioxide is one of many harmful bi-products of gasoline combustion. As combustion efficiency improves, the release of harmful bi-products during combustion decreases. Because fuel efficiency relates to the efficiency of converting energy contained in a fuel to kinetic energy or work to enable a vehicle to travel, fuel economy (i.e., the amount of fuel required to move a vehicle over a given distance) improves as fuel efficiency improves.
A fuel-efficient car is thus not only beneficial to the environment, but also benefits the consumer by saving gasoline costs. There is therefore a need to reduce the consumption of oil-based fuels generally and a particular need to make gasoline combustion engines more efficient.